BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 894|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 894
Author: Furutani (D)
Amended: 9/2/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 5-0, 7/7/09
AYES: Hancock, Walters, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/21/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Ballot measures: fiscal impact statements
SOURCE : State Controller
DIGEST : This bill requires the Legislative Analysts
Office, when preparing the required fiscal analyses for
measures on the statewide ballot, to provide specified
additional information.
ANALYSIS : According to the bills sponsor, the State
Controller, this bill is intended to enable voters to
better understand the measure's costs. According to the
sponsor, "The recent budget crisis demonstrates the need to
make more transparent the costs to taxpayers of
establishing new programs or locking in formulaic spending,
especially via ballot box budgeting. By presenting costs
in the manner proposed by this bill, voters will be better
able to assess and understand the benefits versus the costs
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of the measure on which they are deciding."
Existing law requires that a draft of an initiative measure
be submitted to the Attorney General (AG) prior to
circulation of the initiative for signatures so that it may
appear on the ballot. Existing law requires the AG to
prepare the title and summary for the proposed measure.
Existing law requires that, if the AG determines that the
proposed measure would affect the revenues or expenditures
of the state or local government, he/she shall include in
the title of the proposed measure either the estimated
increase or decrease in revenues or costs to the state or
local government, or an opinion as to whether the measure
would result in a substantial net change in state or local
finances. Existing law requires the title and summary of
the AG to be placed on the heading of a petition for the
measure and on each page of the petition.
This bill requires the fiscal impact statement included in
the title and summary of the AG to be in boldface type.
Existing law requires that a ballot pamphlet containing
information regarding each statewide measure to appear on a
statewide election ballot be prepared by the Secretary of
State. Existing law further requires the Legislative
Analyst to prepare for the ballot pamphlet an analysis of
each statewide measure, including a fiscal analysis of each
measure showing the amount of any increase or decrease in
revenue or cost to state or local government. Existing law
requires that any estimate of increased cost to local
governments be set out in boldface print in the ballot
pamphlet.
This bill also requires, for a statewide measure that would
result in increased cost to the state, that the Legislative
Analyst provide an analysis of the measure's estimated
impact on the state, including an estimate of the
percentage of the General Fund that would be expended due
to the measure. This bill also requires the Legislative
Analyst, to the extent practicable, to utilize a uniform
method in each analysis to describe the estimated increase
or decrease in revenue or cost of a measure.
Existing law requires a condensed statement of the ballot
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title prepared by the AG and the fiscal impact summary of
the Legislative Analyst, as applicable, for each statewide
measure appearing on the ballot, followed by the words "Yes
and "No."
This bill requires that the uniform estimate of increase or
decrease in revenue or cost of the measure prepared by the
Legislative Analyst be included in the condensed fiscal
impact summary.
This bill is double-jointed with AB 753 (Adams).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/09)
State Controller (source)
Service Employees International Union
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuentes, Nava, Saldana
DLW:mw 9/3/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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